The survey was released yesterday (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SBALANGUAGES) and closes on 9 April 2017. The survey seeks to obtain feedback about the draft components and weightings and any proposed mandatory tasks for all Stage 6 Languages courses. It is important that all teachers read and take the time to give their opinion on the changes being proposed.

Questions in the survey are optional and you may choose to answer with N/A for questions about specific courses which you are not teaching. Some of the proposed changes include:

Year 11 (internal assessment)- 3 tasks only- no task worth less than 20%, or more than 40%- only one formal written exam for Year 11Year 12 (internal assessment)- 4 tasks- no task worth less than 10%, or more than 40%- One formal written exam only and weighting no more than 30% (ie this would be the trial)Year 12 Continuers mandatory weightings (internal assessment) changing to:- Listening 25%- Reading 40%- Speaking 15%- Writing 20%

To provide more flexibility in the development of exams, minor amendments to the exam specifications for Stage 6 Languages Continuers: Section I – Listening and Responding have been made in the following courses:

- Arabic

- Chinese

- French

- German

- Indonesian

- Italian

- Japanese

- Korean

- Modern Greek

- Spanish.

The following amended exam specifications will be implemented from the 2017 HSC exams:

- maximum text length has been increased from approximately 60 seconds to approximately 80 seconds

- exams will have approximately nine items instead of approximately 10 items.

Minor amendments have been made to the exam rubrics for Stage 6 Languages Extension: Section II – Writing in the following courses:

- Arabic

- Chinese

- French

- German

- Indonesian

- talian

- Japanese

- Modern Greek

- Spanish.

The following amendments to the rubrics will be effective for 2017 HSC exams:

- ‘present and explain or justify a point of view’ has been changed to ‘present and justify a point of view’ to improve clarity

- ‘write text appropriate to context and/or purpose and/or audience’ has been changed to ‘write text appropriate to audience, purpose and context’ to more closely align with the intention and wording of the exam specifications.

Every five years, BOSTES determines new course prescriptions for each of the nine Extension courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek and Spanish and the four Background Speaker courses in Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. Texts are drawn from those proposed by languages teachers.In order to facilitate the selection of texts required for the 2019 HSC, a survey is available on the BOSTES website for the nomination and review of texts. Teachers are invited to nominate texts and complete a brief survey. The survey is based on the BOSTES selection criteria of appropriateness, suitability and availability.A survey link is on the page for each HSC language syllabus for teachers to submit their nominations for new prescription texts.It can now be found by going to: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc and then clicking on the relevant Extension or Background Speaker course. The survey will remain open until May 2015.

From 1 January 2014, the Board of Studies NSW and the NSW Institute of Teachers will merge to become the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BoSTES). See the message from Carol Taylor in the Board of Studies weekly bulletin for more details.

A reminder that Learning through Languages, Review of Languages Education in NSW consultation period closes on 13 December 2013. Be sure to have your say on the future of Languages education in NSW by completing the online survey at www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/languagesreview/survey.html

In Term 4, the Board of Studies NSW is conducting public consultation on six proposals for a broader, more inclusive languages education for all NSW students. The proposals were developed following analysis of the research literature and best practice both in Australia and overseas, and initial conversations with key stakeholders. The six proposals are outlined in the Learning through Languageskey documents and the Board invites teachers and school executive members to respond the online survey and/or attend a consultation meeting.The consultation meeting times and venues are provided in the attached document.